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“Yeah. He’s a good guy.”
She considers me for a second. “What about you? How are you feeling?”
“I’m happy for her. Definitely. It’s just sort of crazy that my little sister is getting hitched. I mean, when the hell did she grow up?”
Rose laughs.
Fuck, she’s gorgeous.
But there’s something else about her, too. It’s not just my dick influencing my thoughts. There’s something magnetic about her in a deeper way.
“Hey,” I say, catching her eyes again. “You don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, but was I ever a jerk to you when we were in high school?”
“What?” Her eyebrows raise. “No, um…no. I don’t think you ever said two words to me, in fact.”
“Ah. Well. That counts as being a jerk. I’m sorry I ignored you. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”
“Right. I, uh…” A faint blush rises in her cheeks. “I think we should get back to dinner.”
I nod and smile. “Looking forward to eating that dessert.”
Chapter Three
Rose
Make it up to me? What does he mean, he’s going to make it up to me?
Okay. He probably just meant he’ll make small talk with me this weekend or something. Still, it felt like there was something else in his words…something suggestive. Something sexy. Somethingdirty.
Ugh. I really need to get it together.
Flustered, I take my seat at the table again near Courtney, who’s digging a fork into the dessert that’s just been served.
“Oh my God,” she says, groaning around the bite of cake in her mouth. “This is to die for. There’s even fresh pineapple between the layers.”
“Hope I can get noises like that out of you tomorrow night,” her fiancé Leon jokes. Courtney elbows him in the ribs and Leon lets out a deep laugh. While he swoops in to kiss her, I look away from them and watch Evan as he eats a bite of his dessert.
My heart is pounding so fast and hard that he can probably hear it all the way down at that end of the table.
“…afterward, Rose?” Courtney is saying to me. “You really deserve a break.”
“Sorry,” I say, turning back to her. “I spaced out there for a second. What were you saying?”
She shakes her head and laughs. “I was saying that you and I need to go on a girls’ weekend soon. You deserve a break.”
“Sure. That sounds great.” As I meet her eyes and smile, fresh guilt runs through me. Shit. What am I doing, letting myself think about her brother? Courtney would never approve. And Iespeciallycan’t let anything happen on her wedding weekend, of all weekends.
No. I could never do anything to jeopardize my relationship with her. She’s been my best friend since middle school.
You don’t throw something like that away.
“We’ll make plans when you’re back from your honeymoon,” I tell her. Courtney and Leon are staying in Hawaii for another two weeks after the wedding, spreading out their stay across all the islands. “That is, if I can peel you two away from each other.”
Both Courtney and Leon laugh, and when they look at each other, they look giddy in love all over again.
I can’t wait to have that, too—someday, that is. At twenty-six, I’m not too worried about finding a husband yet, but I don’tnotthink about it, either. With all the wedding planning I do, it’s impossible to avoid having thoughts about what my own wedding and marriage will be like someday. I love the idea of having a partner in life, and of having a family with that person. It would make the good parts of life sweeter and the tough parts a little easier.
Right now, though, I need to stay focused on Courtney’s wedding and not my own imaginary one. And so I bring my attention back to the rehearsal dinner. The rest of it flies by, and before I know it, I’m saying goodnight to the last of the guests. Needing a moment of rest, I hang back in the lobby and plop down on a bench.
